What is it about bagpipes?

Question

I find bagpipes and drums much more stirring than standard marching bands. There is something in the mournful/bittersweet sound of the pipes that goes deep into the soul.

Even when they are played in Russia. :-)

Answer 1

O'Tink it is beautiful...and yes I have lots of theories about your Q, having pondered such things...and I actually think that SOUL is the right word here.

Because somehow when we humankind make a really deep connection with the land, there is a kind of mutual symbiosis...the land and the people shape each other, in beautiful ways...and lovely cultural stuff can blossom out of that! And the British Isles are REALLY special; ancient cultures there long before ancient Rome even arrived...

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So the Swiss in Basel do their drumming as they have since the Middle Ages, and the Scottish do their piping as they have for who-knows-how-long! "My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here..."

Comments

@ Virginia,

It seems the Romans introduced bagpipes to the British Isles, according to this history.

http://www.bagpipehistory.info/ireland.shtml

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Well O'Tink I ended up with an enjoyable time learning about the pipes...seems the Pan pipes, without the bag, are considered the second oldest instrument of humankind! Nero is supposed to have played bagpipes, and NOT his fiddle after all...here is an interesting paragraph...

The "Oxford History of Music" makes mention of the first documented bagpipe being found on a Hittite slab at Eyuk. This sculptured bagpipe has been dated to 1,000 B.C. Biblical mention is made of the bagpipe in Genesis and in the third Chapter of Daniel where the "symphonia" in Nebuchadnezzar's band is believed to have been a bagpipe.

https://www.hendersongroupltd.com/historybagpipes.asp

...and then this drawing is from Chaucer Canterbury Tales, the miller is bagpiping! Interesting history.

Answer 2

I always liked hearing : The Black Watch! Stirs up the spirit inside you! Bagpipes always mesmerized me.

Comments

Very lovely, Rooster!

Answer 3

Yes, I like to hear them, and they evoke a festive and, at the same time, a solemn ambiance, reminding of celebrations, bold, partly melancholic, partly cheerful adventures and evasions, Medieval sounds and the wide Highlands with their amazing beauty and myths.

But bagpipes are very ancient and widespread music instruments - and they are found in many countries:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bagpipes

Comments

Yes Marianne, I learned something today...like many people I assumed the Scottish had  a corner on the bagpipes...not so, they were/are all over the place, the Scots are just the ones who made such a really big deal out of them!

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Yes, Virginia, I can only agree with you.